Winemaking at Domaine de Cambis
From grape to wine: the most delicate and most technical stage of the year. At Domaine de Cambis, every cuvée is crafted patiently in the cellar built in 2017 in Berlou.
From grape to wine: the decisive stage
Winemaking is the most delicate and most technical stage of the winegrowing year. Everything is decided during this period of two to three months starting from the date the harvest begins. It very often starts in early September and can run until the end of November, or even mid-December in some years.
Right from the start of the process, Martin has to decide which direction to take each cuvée in. An oenologist supports the Domaine throughout the process, based on the analyses he has carried out.
Winemaking unfolds differently depending on whether it is a red wine, a white wine or a rosé wine. Each type of wine follows its own path, dictated by the nature of the fruit and the character you want to give it.
Making the white and rosé wines
The harvest most often begins with picking the white grapes for the white wines, then the black grapes intended for the rosé. Making these two wines is completely different from making the red wines.
As soon as the grapes are picked — early in the morning to keep them cool — they are destemmed then pressed straight away, put into tank and chilled. Lowering the temperature of the wine for a few days helps the gross lees (fragments of stems and skins) to settle and be removed.
Then the alcoholic fermentation can begin: the transformation of sugar into alcohol by the yeasts. When it is finished, the team carries out one or more rackings to remove the heavy lees (fermentation residues, yeasts), while keeping the fine lees for ageing the wine. This ageing on fine lees, from a few weeks to a few months, gives the wine its roundness.
After a few weeks in tank during which the wines are monitored — with lees stirring when needed to put the fine lees back into suspension and encourage the exchange between lees and wine — the wine is filtered, then bottled after a few more months in tank.
Unlike the red wines, the blends for the whites and rosés are decided at harvest time: the grapes are picked according to that choice.
Making the red wines
For making a red wine, the first step is the plot-by-plot selection: determining which grapes from which plot will go into which tank to make which cuvée.
The grapes are destemmed to remove the stems — the green part of the bunch — in order to avoid extracting green tannins. They are then put into concrete tanks by gravity.
The alcoholic fermentation begins. During this period, the team carries out daily pump-overs: pumping the juice back over the top of the tank, over the cap, in order to homogenise the tank. The tank stays on the marc (with the grapes) for two to three weeks, in order to extract a maximum of aromas and colour.
At the end of that time, the wine is drawn off so the marc can be pressed. The press juices, which still contain sugar, are stored separately to finish their fermentation. As with the whites, several rackings make it possible to remove the heavy lees and keep the fine lees for ageing.
At the same moment the malolactic fermentation gets under way: this second fermentation allows the wine to stabilise and round out by reducing the perceived acidity.
While the wine finishes its ageing in tank, the blends are decided by tasting for the different cuvées. Once blended, the wines finish their ageing in tank for around 7 more months, then are bottled about a year after they were harvested.
Concrete tanks, and oak only when it makes sense
One feature the Domaine claims as its own: the wines are fermented in concrete tanks, and not in oak barrels.
Why this choice? The short pruning of the Domaine's vines reduces yields, which naturally increases the tannin content of the fruit. Oak ageing of the wines is therefore not necessary: the terroir and the work in the vineyard are enough to give the wines their structure.
The only exception to this rule is Carnet de Voyage, aged in oak barrels for 12 months. That makes it a great wine for keeping, which was awarded 3 stars and the Coup de Cœur of the Guide Hachette des Vins 2024 for the 2021 vintage, and 92/100 at Decanter for the 2023 vintage. All our awards
Winemaking at the service of the terroir
At Domaine de Cambis, the aim of winemaking is simple: to convey as faithfully as possible the expression of the Berlou terroir and the work in the vineyard into the bottle. No artifice, no overload of oak. Concrete breathes but protects, and every cuvée carries the signature of the schist.